Once states across the country began “reopening,” President Donald Trump launched a new stage in his approach to “combating” COVID-19.

STAGE NINE: IGNORE THE DANGER

And he scheduled his first 2020 re-election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20. 

This was was swiftly followed by another indoor rally in Phoenix on June 23. “Students for Trump” featured a packed crowd, with almost no one wearing masks.

Then, to celebrate Independence Day, Trump scheduled yet another rally at Mount Rushmore, in Keystone, South Dakota, on July 3. 

Although health experts expressed fears about a large gathering during the Coronavirus pandemic, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said people would “not be social distancing” during the celebration:

“In South Dakota, we’ve told people to focus on personal responsibility….Those who want to come and join us, we’ll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we won’t be social distancing.” 

A Trump rally

STAGE TEN: LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT 

Having tried Denial, Lies, Republican Subservience, Chaos, Extortion, Propaganda as News, Quackery as Medicine, “Re-open the Country!” and Ignoring the Danger, Donald Trump has settled on one more: Learn to live with it.

According to a July 3 story by NBC News: “Eager to move forward and reopen the economy amid a recession and a looming presidential election, the White House is now pushing acceptance. ‘The virus is with us, but we need to live with it,’ is how one official said the administration plans to message on the pandemic.” 

Administration officials would promote a new study they say showed promising results on therapeutics. They would emphasize high survival rates, particularly for Americans who are within certain age groups and don’t have underlying conditions.

On June 30, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the U.S. Senate: “We are now having 40-plus thousand new cases a day. I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.” 

Fauci warned that the infection surge across the South and West “puts the entire country at risk.” Much of that increase is being fueled by young adults testing positive for COVID-19.

By October, those predictions were coming true—with a vengeance.

No vaccine had been invented. Nor had a national system of testing or contact tracing. 

Hospitals began overflowing with COVID cases. Doctors and nurses were overwhelmed with fatigue. Many of them had become COVID victims.

On October 20, more than 70,450 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States in a day for the first time.

On October 25, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union”: “We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas,”

On October 27, 73,240 new COVID-19 cases were reported and 985 deaths that same day, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

By October 28, more than 8.8 million Americans had been diagnosed with COVID, and at least 227,673 had died from it.

Meanwhile, Trump kept barnstorming the country in a relentless re-election effort. Despite being infected with the virus in September, he refused to wear a mask in public. His rallies reflected this same contempt for public health, with most attendees refusing to wear masks and/or socially distance.

Critics had a name for these rallies: “Super-spreader events.”

On October 27, Trump decided that Americans needed to hear the news they had long awaited. The pandemic was over!

STAGE ELEVEN: DECLARE VICTORY OVER CORONAVIRUS

The good news came In a press release from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The agency cited what it claimed were the scientific and technological accomplishments of the first term of the Trump administration.  

No less than “Advisor to the President” and First Daughter Ivanka Trump wrote:

“Over the past four years, President Trump’s policies and investments in science and technology ensure that America stands ready to solve America’s most pressing problems and that our workforce is prepared for tomorrow’s innovations. For years to come, these achievements will guarantee the United States remains the world’s leader in research, discovery, and the advancement of industries that will shape our future.”

Ivanka Trump has absolutely no scientific or technology background.

Under the phrase, “Highlights Include,” the first claimed success is: 

“ENDING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. From the outset of the COVID019 pandemic, the Administration has taken decisive action to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry, and government to understand, treat and defeat the disease.”   

* * * * *

Donald Trump is primarily responsible for the deaths of almost 230,000 American men, women and children. But his lies could not have killed them without the active collaboration of his 63 million Fascistic supporters and thousands of government officials at local, state and federal levels. 

After the fall of Nazi Germany, millions of once-enthusiastic Nazis blamed their now-dead Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, for every German atrocity. According to them:

• “We only followed orders.”
• “We didn’t do it—others did.”
• “We didn’t even know it was being done.”

Americans must demand not simply a new President but a series of Nuremberg-like trials for those responsible for this wholesale COVID-19 slaughter.